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A few hours after the 610 Sports report that Kansas City Chiefs WR Jonathan Baldwin and RB Thomas Jones got into a fight resulting in an injury for Baldwin, Adam Teicher of the Kansas City Star reported that the Chiefs would address the topic after the Baltimore Ravens game on Friday night.
Presumably, Teicher didn't just guess, or assume, that the Chiefs would address it. More than likely, he was told by someone within the organization that Haley would address it. His story was floated around the NFL world so some people tuned into the Chiefs post-game press conference to hear what Haley had to say about the situation.
And Haley did address it..sort of.
Actually, he really didn't address it at all. He didn't acknowledge that there was a fight between two of his players and initially acted as if he didn't understand the question.
He called it "family business", which is fine. I can respect that the Chiefs want to keep things in house just like they respect that the media is trying to get information out of them. Teicher's story saying that the Chiefs would address the situation necessarily means that, indeed, there is a situation to address. Instead, Haley operated as if he didn't know what Teicher was talking about.
With no information to go on, fans will create their own image of what happened, whether that's a good or a bad look for the Chiefs. They'll blame Baldwin for being a "diva", or they'll blame Haley for whatever the latest charge against him is, or they'll blame Jones based on his past history with fighting teammates. It may or may not be accurate but that's what happens when fans are left with no information in a situation like this.
Confusing, yes, but that's our Chiefs. I've got the full transcription of Haley and Teicher's back and forth about the situation (or lack thereof) that took place following the game.
Teicher: What happened between Jones and Baldwin?
Haley: [He gives the look in the picture above]
Teicher: Thomas Jones and Jonathan Baldwin?
Haley: What's the question?
Teicher: What happened between them?
Haley: I don't understand the question. I don't know what you're talking about.
Teicher: Did they get into a fight, and did Baldwin get hurt as a result of that?
Haley: Jonathan Baldwin did not play tonight due to injury. [Reporter interrupts] Jonathan Baldwin did not play tonight due to injury. As I say in here a bunch, that's the extent of what I'm going to talk about.
Teicher: Was there a fight between those two?
Haley: As with many things with our team that I come back to, Adam, on this, we fall into this, injuries being a family business category. I'll talk about the guys that were out there tonight playing and trying to get better.
Reporter: Do you have a sense of when Baldwin may be available?
Haley: With our guys that were not able to play tonight due to injury, I'm going to leave it at we're talking about the guys that were out there tonight, and will be out there as we go forward.